15 May 2012
Dr E.J. Wagenmakers (1972) has been appointed Professor of Neurocognitive Modeling; interdisciplinary integration at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).
The research of Eric-Jan Wagenmakers focuses on developing and testing mathematical models for cognition. Such models enable researchers to bridge the gap between data that can be directly measured (e.g., response times, percentage correct decisions, neuronal firing frequencies) and the latent cognitive mechanisms upon which these data are based (e.g., processing speed, caution, sensitivity to reward, and control processes). As part of his appointment, Wagenmakers will promote a further integration of different disciplines - genetics, neuroscience, psychology, biology, physics, economics, linguistics – under the theme of 'cognition'. An essential element of this integration will be the focus on formal models for behaviour, cognition, and information processing.
Wagenmakers has worked at the UvA since 2003. He is also president of the Society for Mathematical Psychology and member of the advisory board of the project PsychFileDrawer.org. He is also active as action editor for Cognitive Psychology and Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. In 2011, Wagenmakers received a Starting Grant, a large, personal grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his research on Bayesian hypothesis testing for the social sciences. Previously, he had acquired a Vidi grant (in 2006) and a Veni grant (in 2004) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW). Wagenmakers has published numerous articles in leading scientific journals, including the Journal of Neuroscience, Nature Neuroscience, Psychological Review, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).